On Prolific, each submission has a status that shows its progress and what you need to do.
After a participant completes a study, submissions move to Awaiting Review, where you have up to 21 days to review the submission.
Final statuses include:
Approved (paid)
Rejected (not paid) Please note that rejections penalise participants. Follow the guidance when deciding whether to reject a submission.
Returned (not paid)
Timed-out (not completed in time).
These statuses help you quickly track progress and manage participant payments.
This article explains what each status means, who can take action, and how.
For guidance on approving, rejecting, or requesting returns, see Approvals, rejections & returns.
Awaiting Review
The participant has completed your study and is waiting for your decision.
What to do:
Review the submission by checking the participant’s submitted data.
Approve, request a return, or reject the submission following the guidance here - Approvals, rejections & returns.
Pay participants as soon as possible (ideally within 24–48 hours).
Important:
You have 21 days to review submissions.
After 21 days, any submissions that are still awaiting review are automatically approved.
Participants are told reviews may take up to 22 days (to account for time zones).
Costs for submissions awaiting review are reserved from your available balance and will be deducted from your total balance when approved. Please see here for further guidance on total and available balances.
Active
The participant is currently taking your study but has not finished yet.
What to do:
Wait until the submission is completed.
Reserved
The participant has reserved a place but has not started the study yet.
What to do:
No action needed.
Returned
The participant has exited the study early or withdrawn their submission.
Common reasons for returns may be:
Technical difficulties
Loss of interest
Withdrawal of consent
What to do:
No action required.
Key points:
Returned submissions do not count toward your total requested submissions.
You do not have to pay unless you manually approve them (by selecting the green tick to approve it). You will need to have available balance (additional to what’s reserved for the study) to pay participants.
The participant’s spot is reopened for someone else.
Additional guidance:
A high number of returns may indicate a technical issue, you may want to consider investigating further (e.g., contacting participants).
You cannot return submissions yourself, but you can ask participants to return them.
Submissions are automatically approved after 21 days, so request returns well before the deadline to avoid auto-approval. If a participant hasn’t responded within 2 days, contact Support, and do so at least 2 working days before the auto-approval date.
Participants:
Can return submissions in “Awaiting Review”
Cannot undo a return
Cannot return approved submissions
Partial payments:
If you want to offer partial payment to participants you should request that they return their submission, by sending them a message. You can then pay the participant the partial payment via a bonus payment.
Timed Out
The participant did not complete the study within the allowed time.
What to do:
No action required.
These submissions are excluded from totals and are not charged.
Optional:
You do not have to pay unless you manually approve them (by selecting the green tick to approve it). You will need to have available balance (additional to what’s reserved for the study) to pay participants.
About time limits:
The maximum time is automatically set by Prolific based on your estimate in the study creation form.
This limit cannot be changed and is designed to give all participants in your study plenty of time to complete successfully, whilst timing out those who become inactive.
Please note that participants can go over your maximum time allowed and still complete their submission in some cases. This occurs when the participant remains active and is not replaced by another participant on Prolific before they submit the study.
Approved
The submission has been approved and the participant has been paid.
What to do:
No action required.
Important:
Approved submissions cannot be undone.
Always review carefully before approving.
You have up to 21 days to decide.
Rejected
The submission has been rejected by you or Prolific.
What to do:
No further action required after rejection.
Key points:
You will not be charged.
The spot is reopened for another participant.
Rejections can negatively impact participants. Review guidelines carefully before rejecting, as well as the difference between returning submissions and rejecting them.
Additional options:
You can unreject a submission if needed by selecting the 'unreject' option on the submission. You will need to have available balance (additional to what’s reserved for the study) to pay participants.
Rejected spots are automatically opened up to other eligible participants so your study can still reach its target.
Processing
After you approve or reject a submission, it may have the ‘Processing’ status for a short time before finalizing as ‘Approved’ or ‘Rejected’.
What to do:
No action required.
Notes:
This status is temporary and usually resolves quickly.
If it lasts longer than an hour or reverts to “Awaiting Review,” contact support.
Reverting to “Awaiting Review” may indicate a rejection limit has been reached.
FAQs
What if a participant timed out but completed the study?
If you have clear evidence they completed the study in good faith:
Manually approve the submission when possible. You will need to have available balance (additional to what’s reserved for the study) to pay participants.
This may happen due to:
Technical issues
Underestimated completion time
Why do I see “insufficient funds” when approving returned or timed-out submissions?
This happens because:
Returned and timed-out approvals count as extra approvals beyond your requested total.
These are paid from your available balance, not your reserved study budget.
How to fix it:
Top up your account to cover the additional approvals.
For more details, see Workplace balance.